Rebuilding the interior

When I bought the boat, the exterior was spotty with rust and some of the armature around the bow was exposed where it had rubbed against the steel angle that forms part of the quayside construction.

However, the woodwork inside was exquisite and sold the boat to me.

The upholstery was a durable but coarse fabric with a blue background and beige vine-like design. Not particularly attractive. Around the portholes on the inside, the plastic surrounds had deteriorated badly but this was somewhat obscured by the blue curtains with vine design that matched the seating upholstery. It was the turned and shaped wood and spacious layout that spoke to me. Some pictures of the interior, when I bought her, below.

                       Galley

                          Main cabin

                         Heads

                        Forward Cabin

After a few years of sailing her, I had the notion to make some changes to the upholstery. I looked at various fabric options and settled on a plain beige format for the main cabin. I also used the opportunity to have new high-density foam cut for the seats and backrests. The change was remarkable. Pictures below.

  

Almost as soon as the upholstery was revamped, I started with the doghouse which is covered in a different part of this blog.

A second phase of the interior remodeling started when I was given an opportunity to work abroad and be paid in US dollars. I appointed a project manager in the form of Charles Moody to oversee the process of creating a new boat out the material he had to work with.

Charles is also working on his own boat rebuild and knows experts in various disciplines which included electrics, propulsion, steering, and carpentry.

Charles had a daunting task ahead of him. I wanted to move the wheel from the center of the cockpit to the forward port side. This required the rerouting of the hydraulic steering piping, the mounting of a pump against the cabin bulkhead, the installation of a new Morse throttle/gearbox control and the installation of gutters in the cockpit to handle the water runoff from the new cockpit floor.

He acquitted himself splendidly in these endeavors, fabricating bespoke steel mountings and timber surrounds to suit the new wheel position.

Charles appointed Dennis the carpenter to strip out and replace every Formica panel in the boat. These had become brittle with age and many had suffered damage when a recovering drug-addicted tenant, C.B, (name deliberately omitted) who was living on the boat, took a hammer to the interior and smashed panels, instruments and the cooker in a drug-induced rage. Needless to say, that was C.B's last day on the boat.

While at the time I despaired at the turn of events, in retrospect, C.B. did me a favour, forcing me to replace old instruments and rewire, as well as to replace the old and brittle Formica panels.

I had attempted a panel replacement process at one stage and it was moderately successful, but I had neither the time nor the skills to finish the work professionally and timeously. Pictures of my attempt below.

                    Porthole surround with Formica panels removed.

                               Re paneled porthole

While it looked acceptable, the process was painfully slow and I had no clear plan as to how to proceed with the ceiling.

Dennis is an experienced marine carpenter and between him and Charles, an interior layout was devised which is both appealing and practical. Dennis removed every old Formica panel and replaced them with clad marine ply. The vertical panels are clad with white Formica while the horizontal panels are clad with white vinyl. Charles engaged Hutch, a skilled marine electrician, to rewire the solar panels, install a battery management system and install LED lighting in the cabin.

               Pictures below of the layout as it is now.

Dennis fabricated the porthole surrounds out of wood, each one made to measure. He also fabricated circular wooden air vent surrounds to match the general aesthetic of the interior.

As part of the general work spec, I upgraded the freshwater system to include pressurized and hot and cold water. This required finding piping routes under the floorboards, installing and plumbing the calorifier I had bought from Rolf (he of To Life) to create and store hot water, and to remodel the heads. Pictures of the process below.

Completed plumbing manifold side 

Completed plumbing water tank side

The heads required special treatment. The old sit bath in this space was never plumbed in and with all respect to Les, space looked terrible. The plastic hand wash basin was brittle, the space for the loo was cramped and the bath just took up too much room. Picture below.

Charles pulled out the bath and stripped the space bare just before he left for a work stint in the U.K. I had Dennis reposition the toilet bowl and bought a hand-wash basin and showerhead to install into the pedestal he created. Picture of the unfinished installation below.

Once installed, the water inlet and outlet plumbing looked untidy and the side of the hull needed a finish too. After some musings and meditation on the matter, I came up with a finish design made up of painted slats over the hoses and on the side of the hull.

I instructed Dennis to create a slatted cover plate for the hoses and hull wall and this looked superb! This started a whole new finishing trend for the boat using painted slats as a finishing material. I also installed a rubber mat on the floor, cut to match the shape of the floor and overlaid this with a non-slip plastic tread board to prevent falling in the wet shower. The showerhead fits into the basin faucet outlet hole to double as a means to wash your hands when the shower is not in use. 

Picture of completed heads, below.

As a final touch, I replaced the wooden sliding door of the heads space with a Perspex door which I make opaque with a sandblast simulation vinyl sticker covering most of the door. At the top of the door I installed strip light which when on, creates a luminous effect to light up the heads space. So now I have a Light Emitting Door! (LED). It works wonderfully! Pictures below.

             View from the main cabin to the LED

                 

                      View from inside

                      Heads lit by the light from the LED!

Next, I had in mind to set Dennis to doing the ceiling for the doghouse using slats as the finish. Below a picture of the completed installation with strip lighting installed.

And a view from the quayside with the doghouse lights on.